Is bigger better? Cadillac plans sedan bigger than XTS

Jul. 19, 2013

The 2013 Cadillac XTS Wednesday, June 20, 2012 in New York. / Cadillac

Written by

James R. Healey

USA Today

Cadillac will launch a car bigger than its XTS large sedan within the next two years, General Motors CEO Dan Akerson says.

The XTS is the biggest Cadillac car, and there have been dueling reports for at least two years about whether GM's luxury brand planned to stop there, or go bigger.

Akerson's remarks seem to settle that.

The only question is whether Caddy should develop specialty models, such as a sleek coupe, based on the same hardware as the unnamed large sedan.

Cadillac's return to very big cars is striking. During GM's slide into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2009, and the two years immediately after, it wasn't clear how much traction large cars had in the marketplace.

Chrysler was doing well with its big 300 sedan, but Ford Motor discontinued its Crown Victoria big sedan and the even-bigger Lincoln Town Car in 2011. GM's Chevrolet brand was working on the next Impala, traditionally a big sedan, but decided to build it atop a stretched version of a mid-size car chassis, while still trying to make it full-size.

Buyers who wanted extra-large vehicles seemed to have moved to full-size SUVs instead of big sedans.

Akerson's comments about the new, super-size Cadillac sedan came during a visit to USA TODAY headquarters at McLean, Va., where he showed off the 2014 Cadillac CTS that's coming this fall, and was interviewed about GM products, the city of Detroit's bankruptcy filing and an array of management issues.

Cadillac confirms that it's working on the super-sedan for launch about two years hence. Details remain closely held, but several things are known:

■The car will use a rear-drive chassis very loosely based on the CTS. There will be an all-wheel drive version, too.

■It will not be based on GM's Australian Holden rear-drive cars. Holden has been a source for other big, rear-drive cars, most recently the Chevrolet SS.

■It will not necessarily replace the XTS, which is based on a front-drive chassis, and also offers an all-wheel-drive variant. XTS is nearly as popular in the U.S. as Caddy's other two sedans, ATS and CTS. And XTS is a big hit in China, which is a huge market for GM.

■The super-size Caddy sedan won't resemble the brand's recent concept cars, but will use some styling highlights from them, such as the knife-edge row of lights on the front fenders, similar to the new CTS.

Akerson pointed out the CTS' crisp fender-ridge front lights as a distinguishing facet and "the face" of future Cadillac models.